What makes you think he’s flirting? I was thinking it might be more the other way around; she’s looking at him in every frame, plus there’s that awkward sitting pose (granted, the handcuffs might interfere with her sitting).

Glad you spotted it! I thought a subtle “down the rabbit hole” signal might have been called for. As you’ve noticed before, I enjoy little things like that which aren’t important to the plot, it’s no big deal if nobody catches them, but which make the experience just that little extra bit enjoyable for those who do. (Also, it just looks good on her, right?)

What record is the officer talking about? I know that Mrs. Flavors broke out of prison when she still had 10 years left on her sentence. But what was she in prison for in the first place that is worse than what any of the other criminals did?

I think “the most to lose” means in comparison to her fellow conspirators. Her previous record means she’ll receive a harsher sentence for her latest crimes, plus there’s the charges for escaping from prison as you mentioned. She’s less likely to be offered a favorable plea deal if she gets one at all.

Being a repeat offender means she’s also more likely to have things happen like being sentenced to serve her terms consecutively instead of concurrently (for instance, being found guilty of 4 counts and being sentenced to a year for each count means one year total if they’re concurrent, four years total if they’re consecutive) or not having a chance at parole.

On the other hand, she’s a pretty white woman, so there’s a pretty good chance that she’ll get a much lower sentence than a man would if they committed the crimes she did. Seriously, the sentencing disparities between men and women are ridiculous. All she needs is a half-decent lawyer to play the “poor bullied victim coerced into it by the men” card for her in court, and she’ll get off in a fraction of the time of her co-workers

(Initiate Sarcasm)What I meant was either she should get payed more and get raped less and men should get shorter prison sentences, or men should get payed less, get raped more, and women should get longer prison sentences.
More generally, if you can’t make life better for the marginalized, then just make life worse for the privileged. The end result is equality either way. (Terminate sarcasm).

As the others pointed out, it’s hard seeing what she might gain anyway. Even if she spills all the beans, she has at least the ten years remaining on her previous charge, plus the escape charge that isn’t related to this case, and only then come the current situation. The only thing that isn’t in her complete disfavor is that she can argue the shoot-out wasn’t directly her fault, even though, yes, it was shown that she shares accountability for the death of the baby.

She probably doesn’t know much beyond her own involvement, unlike the money, the brains and the ringleader, so except for making the investigation go a little bit faster, she cannot really prove herself useful. So… yep, she’s better off to start working on her next escape plan and then leave for a country without extradition treaties.

There’s still lots to negotiate on. For example, “Plead guilty, tell us what you know, testify against the guy who actually shot the baby, and we won’t charge you with the murder. And we’ll knock off the escape charge for free”.

Trials take a lot of time, money, and effort for both sides, and neither side really knows what will happen – prosecutors don’t want to risk an acquittal, defendants, don’t want to risk an even harsher punishment. “Make our lives easier by admitting you did what we know you did, and we’ll give you a reduced punishment” is pretty standard procedure.

Only prosecutors have the authority to make those negotiations with defendants. Police officers have no such authority, they just pretend that they do during interrogations to trick the suspect into confessing.

I note those weren’t exactly Miranda rights he was telling her, he was paraphrasing – the content is similar, but the wording is not. I’m curious how that will stand up to scrutiny in court, as “You don’t have to talk to me” is NOT the same as “You have the right to remain silent” – and while he has obviously read her her rights in the past, IIUC, that does NOT necessarily mean that he isn’t obliged to do so again. I also note that he did not inform her that she was under arrest …which I imagine Nathan might also complicate matters?

Whoops – he said you’re under arrest in previous panels, my bad (…but he did not identify himself as either Police or as a Federal Officer, and there were no uniformed officers present – but a handcuffed suspect was?? – Okay now I’m confused. Where is this going?)

How important is it to say the words (I think you covered this before)?

Can the interrogating officer, when cross-examined on the stand, reply something like “We arrested the defendant, Professor Smith, as he was teaching a Criminal Procedures class, lecturing on Miranda v. Arizona. We assumed he was aware of his rights.” and get away with not actually informing Professor Smith of his rights?

I have a question. What the officer says to Mrs. Flavors in the 2nd panel, does that count as him reading her Miranda rights? I know it pretty much covers the Miranda Rights, but could she get off with saying that she didn’t understand them? Does he need to recite them verbatim?

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